


Whirl

by wynnebat



Series: Just Write! Fluff Bingo 2019 [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Camping, EWE, F/M, Getting Together, Hogwarts Forbidden Forest, Light Angst, POV Harry Potter, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 20:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20197738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wynnebat/pseuds/wynnebat
Summary: “I don’t want to go far,” Harry said, a week after the final battle. “But I need to go somewhere.”Harry glanced toward Luna, who had wandered over to his corner and hidden with him, her hand warm as she took his own.“You should come with me,” Luna offered. “I’m already packed.”“Okay,” Harry agreed, and didn’t ask a single question.





	Whirl

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff Bingo square: dancing.

“I don’t want to go far,” Harry said, a week after the final battle. “But I need to go somewhere.”

He was hiding behind one of the castle’s more dangerous rotating staircases from the mob of reporters that had been hounding him ever since he defeated Voldemort. Minerva had offered him a room at the castle for as long as he wanted it, and Harry had taken her up on it, though he might not have had he known Hogwarts couldn’t provide him solace from the more determined reporters. There wasn’t anywhere else for him to go; he didn’t want to intrude on the Weasleys’ grief, but finding someone to rent from was slow-going. The wizarding world was in chaos. Families were reuniting after months apart, friends searching for one other, so many people either grieving or high on relief. No one was doing business, not now.

Harry glanced toward Luna, who had wandered over to his corner and hidden with him, her hand warm as she took his own.

“You should come with me,” Luna offered. “I’m already packed.”

“Okay,” Harry agreed, and didn’t ask a single question.

Not when they stopped by the Ravenclaw dormitories to pick up Luna’s things, nor when they grabbed his own and left a note for Minerva. He gave his preferences when they stopped by the kitchens and that was it. Partly, he didn’t care. Anywhere would be better than here, surrounded by remnants of death and violence. And he was tired. He felt like he hadn’t gotten a full night of sleep since fifth year, or third year, or before Hogwarts, or hell, before his parents died.

Maybe not even then. Before this past week, Harry had never taken a breath in a world where Voldemort didn’t live.

Instead of taking his hand again to apparate with him or approaching a professor to use a floo, Luna guided him out onto the Hogwarts lawn. Harry looked both ways and saw nothing. For the moment, the path was clear of people.

Side by side, they walked.

“We’re going to the Forbidden Forest?” Harry asked, not having expected it.

Luna nodded. She ticked off her points on her hands. “It’s not far, like you said, but we don’t have to stay close. No one ever goes more than a day into the Forest. It’s quiet, and nice, and I’ve wanted to go for years to find nargles.”

“Where does it end?”

“It doesn’t,” she said. “That’s why students aren’t allowed, you see. You can walk and walk and walk, and you won’t see the end. Great-grandpa Lovegood spent a month walking before he found evidence of Murishrooms.”

The forest around him gained a new dimension as Harry realized what Luna’s words meant. “It’s like Diagon Alley? A forest within a forest, one muggles can’t find.”

“That’s right.”

“Ron, Hermione, and I spent months camping out.” Harry rubbed his arm. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go camping again so soon. He had two memories of camping: the horcrux hunt and being dragged along once with the Dursleys. He had been forced to sleep out in the open next to the tent. Neither experience was pleasant.

“It’s alright if you need to go,” Luna offered. “But it’s almost summer.”

“That does sound nice.”

The forest was endless, and the sunshine was warm, and he didn’t have to speak to another person except Luna, who would never prod at him or ask him what it felt like to die. He’d tell her if she asked. He might tell her anyway. Luna was always appreciative of hearing about strange experiences and had a way of making him look at things from a completely different angle. She would probably ask what Dumbledore had worn in the afterlife.

When Luna smiled at him, she looked oddly wistful, although she said with no particular inflection, “I missed the sunlight when I was in the dungeons.”

This time, it was Harry who took her hand, and squeezed it gently. “I missed Hogwarts’ food. We were too scared to go out into the open, even to shop. Couldn’t go to Gringotts for money. The Death Eaters were everywhere.”

“The house elves gave us plenty for our trip,” Luna said. “It’s all charmed, too.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“I was just waiting for you.” Luna’s eyes were bright, and she looked up for a long moment, watching the sky through the canopy of trees. Her grip on his hand was firm. “I’m glad you came.”

Harry swallowed. “I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier.”

“You’ve been busy this week,” Luna offered, and pointed out a small nest in one trees.

Something within Harry settled with each step he took. It was the forest, the freedom. It was Luna, too.

He hadn’t let himself think of anything but Voldemort for months. Now that his mind was free, he found that although his grief was heavy, it didn’t overwhelm him. Thoughts of guilt came, for not ending the war sooner and the mistakes he had made along the way, but they went just as easily. A day in the forest turned into two, then three, then a week. Harry wondered if they would break Luna’s great-grandfather’s record.

A few creatures attacked them, but most were content to leave them alone. After months of constant vigilance and preparation for the war, the Forbidden Forest wasn’t frightening to him. He’d faced worse things. It was peaceful here in comparison.

Peaceful, restful, and a little wonderful, like when Luna took his hand and said that the clearing was perfect for dancing. There was no music, no sound but those of birds and insects, no one but them in the whole forest. The whole world. Harry couldn’t dance. Luna didn’t seem to mind.

When he kissed her, still swaying to a silent song, she smiled into the kiss, and pulled him closer. Tomorrow, they would search again for nargles. For tonight, it was just them, and dancing, and this.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm also on [tumblr](https://wynnefic.tumblr.com/).


End file.
